Narendra Modi, India's prime minister, during the nation's Independence Day ceremony at Red Fort in New Delhi, India, on Thursday, Aug 15, 2024. – Bloomberg
NEW DELHI: India pledged US$3.5 million toward helping developing countries promote trade and build capacity, as New Delhi tries to position itself as a leader of Global South nations.
"We propose a comprehensive Global Developmental Compact determined by the local priorities,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the third Voice of Global South summit, which held virtually on Saturday (Aug 17).
The programs will be "human centric,” "multi-dimensional” with a focus on technology sharing and will have concessional finance for projects, Modi sai, without saying which projects will be funded or how they will be financed.
The plan will help developing nations avoid a debt trap, said Modi. India would fund the money to help increase capacity among developing countries and to help them strike better trade deals and promote trade.
The concerns expressed at the meeting will be presented by India to the UN’s Summit of Future scheduled to take place in New York next month, Modi said.
Representatives from about 18 countries including Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Oman and Chile took part in the virtual summit. India has been trying to position itself as a leader of developing nations as it tries to counter China in the Indo-Pacific region and on the African continent. The South Asian nation hosted two such summits last year.
The nations of the Global South are impacted by the "multiple conflicts, tensions and stresses,” India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told foreign ministers at the summit.
"We must together as family to facilitate the flow of finance and critical technology to the Global South,” he said. – Bloomberg
